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Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour cake pans, knocking out excess flour.

Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices into a large bowl.

Beat together butter (1 1/2 sticks) and brown sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer (fitted with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and sour cream alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth. Mix in pecans until just combined.

Spoon batter evenly into pans, smoothing tops, then rap pans once or twice to expel any air bubbles. Bake until pale golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edge of pans, then invert racks over pans and reinvert cakes onto racks to cool completely.

Make frosting:

Beat together cream cheese, butter, and zest in a bowl with clean beaters at medium-high speed until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Sift in confectioners sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined, then add lemon juice and beat at medium-high speed until frosting is smooth.

Assemble and frost cake:

Halve each cake layer horizontally with a long serrated knife using a gentle sawing motion. Put 1 layer, cut side up, on a cake stand or large plate and spread with about 3/4 cup frosting. Stack remaining cake layers, spreading about 3/4 cup frosting on each layer and ending with top cake layer cut side down. Spread top and side of cake with remaining frosting (about 3 1/2 cups) and coat side of cake with pecans (1 1/3 cups), gently pressing to help them adhere.

Cooks' notes:

·Cake layers (not split) can be kept, wrapped individually in plastic wrap and placed in large sealed plastic bags, chilled 1 day or frozen 1 week. If frozen, thaw in bags at room temperature, about 2 hours.
·Frosting can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature, then stir until smooth before using.
·Cake can be assembled and frosted 8 hours ahead, then kept, loosely covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature.

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Recent Reviews

Tasty cake - don't overbake.
Frosting is delish and not overly
sweet, though the recipe makes a lot.
Personal preference though, I would cut
the lemon in half.
Definitely a do-again for my family!

A Cook from Woodinville, WA /

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I made the recipe exactly as described. I made the cake a day ahead and wrapped and bagged it. I have been advised not to refrigerate cakes because it causes drying (freezing is ok)so I left it bagged on counter top (uncut). Icing was also made the day before. This was a big hit with everyone. The icing is NOT too sweet which is often a problem with cream cheese icing. Also, there was just the right amount. The cake was not dry or hard to handle (be sure to watch the size of the eggs-need large). The spices were a good combination-I try to grind as many on the day of use to make sure they are not old. I am not sure why others had problems-easy and worked well for me.

A Cook from St. Louis /

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This cake is really good, one of the best I've made. Although I did not have the frosting it still tasted amazing. It would defiantly work well as muffins too though.

PuffyCakes154 from Portland, Oregon /

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I've made this cake both as a layer cake and as cupcakes and it was a crowd favorite both times. I don't agree that it's dry. If there's any complaint, it's that the frosting is super SWEET, I choose to deal with this by going more conservative when I frost it.

A Cook /

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This cake gets a
"good" rating
because it is drier
than I would have
liked. It is
surprising that this
cake is even
slightly dry, given
the amount of wet
ingredients. There
are definitely
better spice cake
recipes out there.